On to Ankor

Jan 23^rd 2010

I have arrived in Cambodia after a month of preparationion. Of course, I am not quite prepared, but here I am in a land that is like a 30 year back to the future time warp from its neighbor Thailand.

I boarded the early train to Cambodia, a six hour ride for about $1.40. Leaving into the sunrise, and open windows to smell the new day and all of its colors.

Crossing the border where they were screening for H1N1 with a survey that they weren’t actually checking.

A bus into Siem Riep on the newly paved road cut the trip from 5 to 2 hours last year.

The pleasant town of Siemp Riep is the hub for visiting the temples of Ankor Wat,

I had visited last year, so, I just enjoyed the night and had a refreshing night. The next morning I got a ticket to the capital city of Phnom Penh.

During the trip I saw rice fields, vast as far as the eye could see. Some of the dry land was on fire, and the train kicked ash into the open windows as passed through 10 Kilometers of blackened fields. Burning the rice fields is a way to restore nutrients into the soil, the charcoal left behind from the burn helps the soil retain nutrients.

However, lost is the energy that the fire released in heat, as well as carbon and ash thrown into the sky.

The good news is that part of the effort with Re3-Generation when working with the farmers and rural communities aims to incorporate using the plant waste in a biogasification rather then just open burning.

Biogasification is a process that harnesses the thermal heat and gas called syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) produced by heating plant waste in the absence of oxygen, like in a kiln.

So, what is produced is useful heat for many industrial purposes and a clean gas called that can power a generator for electricity, which normally diesel fuel would be used. Fifty percent of the carbon matter is locked down in the form of charcoal, and now called biochar.

Spreading that biochar into the fields helps retain nutrients and raises the crop yield, and is a great way to store carbon. This kind of agriculture application mimics an ancient practice called Terra Preta, used to farm the unfertile Amazon soils.

Jan 24^th

The second day into Cambodia I have many emotions surging through me.

A new language to learn, a slightly different culture, a feeling of being alone, and in poorer country to start this project. Shouts of “Barang!” which is the default for every foreigner, even though it means “French.” Cambodia was colonized by the French, and so naturally, seeing my big noise, they might confuse me for French.

I am here…step taken.

The Shiva Affect.

The winds were reminding my friend of the feeling before the 2006 Tsunami that hit in Phuket Thailand where he was working. The dogs ran up to the hills, some people chased them, they survived. He had the good fortune of running an errand on higher ground, and the fact that it was Sunday so he was not in his basement office 50 meters from the ocean.

The sea ebbed and he could see tourists around on the beach, playing in the tide pools, with their cameras out to record all that was under the ocean. Some people were trying to warn others, they went to the police, but the officials didn’t want to scare off tourists. The wave came eight meters or more with incredible force.

My aboriginal friend told us of his father who felt the energy shift. He described his father as a man who touches the ground like the elephants, barefoot sensitivity that with their sense and intuition ripped through their chains and ran for the hills as they felt the earth speak to them.

This instinctual voice, our earthly animal sensitivity is powerful and needs alignment, for we are creatures of the earth.

Destruction happens. With destruction the ego and superego are largely damaged. Why did this happen to them, us, me? Undeniable pain and suffering are the reality.

When separated from the action, and with time the affect could be reckoned to the birth of a phoenix. Flames that destroyed can be crucial to create. A catalyst that can bring forth conflict, and equally be a way to cease differences or at least make them seem much less significant.

In the destruction of the ego and superego, there can be opportunity. It’s the essence of Shiva where dissolution of the current reality happens so the next cycle of creation may be liberated from things of the past.

Like Haiti, a troubled land, with infighting and deep poverty. The suffering and destruction is awful no doubt. But it happened. No one can deny the event, but a choice can be made to deny or accept the opportunity to liberate the old ways, which were collapsing the society far before the earthquake.

Will this be an opportunity to unite over divisions? Is the power of destruction strong enough to create?

No doubt, like in any disaster there are the predators who will capitalize off of huge flows of aid and energy, and make sure the same power system stays (Haliburton, IMF etc…). My hope is that the predators are not successful, so that the people may start anew, and recreate their reality.

May those lost in disaster be another reason to be founded in peace. May suffering bring forth honesty and appropriate action.

My heart pours out with love to the families, friends of those who are suffering or have met an abrupt end.

The great mother has been disrupted by Shiva. She will help to subdue his ego, and realize his role in their growth. What is created is far more important then what happened; it is a great lesson to be taken past the ego and to retain a future that is much clearer, compassionate and trusting for the oneness. ~ Love to the Family who will prevail.